Former Chicago cop accused of drinking even though his probation for DUI forbade it

A former Chicago police officer convicted of making a fake 911 report while off-duty to get out of a DUI stop could face prison time after prosecutors allege he violated his probation by drinking at a West Town bar.

Investigators looking into the March death of a 33-year-old man who police say was trying to stop a drunken driver who had been at the Aberdeen Tap discovered former Officer Sean Dailey, 36, had also been drinking there that afternoon.

Dailey was sentenced last November to two years of probation, which included a prohibition against drinking. He had resigned from the Police Department earlier that month.

In March, Shane Stokowski was killed after seeing Timothy McShane hit several parked cars after leaving the Aberdeen Tap, authorities said. Stokowski went up to the black SUV McShane was accused of driving and leaned into the driver's side window to try to stop the car but it drove away, carrying Stokowski for nearly a block before he fell and struck his head.

McShane's blood alcohol level was 0.225, nearly three times the legal limit, when tested about six hours after the incident, authorities said.

An investigator with the Chicago Police Department's major accident investigations unit said in an affidavit that he learned while investigating Stokowski's death that Dailey had also been drinking at the Aberdeen Tap that afternoon.

Bar patrons told the investigator that Dailey had introduced himself by name and given them a business card with his name on it, according to the affidavit. Two bartenders said Dailey was there drinking Coors Light and a mixed drink.

Video from inside the bar also showed Dailey drinking there, according to the affidavit.

Dailey's initial criminal case arose out of a traffic stop on Nov. 5, 2010, when he was speeding 30 miles over the limit in a black Chevy Tahoe and ran a red light on North Milwaukee Avenue in Niles. The Niles police officer who pulled him over smelled alcohol on his breath but agreed to let Dailey go without a ticket after learning he was a Chicago cop.

The Niles officer, however, would not allow Dailey to drive himself home, telling Dailey he could call a friend or a cab or that the officer himself would drive him home, according to court records. Dailey told the officer he'd call a cab, but as the Niles officer waited to make sure Dailey didn't drive away, Dailey instead called 911 on his cellphone, telling a dispatcher that 50 underage kids who were drinking and "doing coke" had gotten into a brawl at a Niles bar.

The Niles officer, knowing only a handful of officers were on duty, responded to the call but learned over the radio on the way that the report was false. When he returned, Dailey and his vehicle were gone.

"It's clear to me that the Niles police officers were giving the defendant a tremendous break," a transcript quoted Judge William Lacy as saying during a hearing months before his sentencing. "The defendant not only refused that break, he then selfishly places his fellow officer in potential danger by ... reporting a fictitious bar fight."

Dailey, the son of a dead former Chicago police lieutenant, had faced up to three years in prison. Six current or former Chicago police officers wrote letters supporting him, including then-Fraternal Order of Police President Michael Shields.

Dailey is required to appear in court next week to answer the charges from prosecutors.